Guillotine shearing machines



Nov. 1, 1966 R. GAUTRON 3,282,141

GUILLOTINE SHEARING MACHINES Filel March 8, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov.1, 1966 R. GAuTRoN GUILLOTINE SHEARING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMarch 8, 1965 'Nov. 1, 1966 R. GAu'rRoN 3,282,141

GUILLOTINE SHEARING MACHINES Filed March 8, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5A772777 e g4- United States Patent Odice dlldl Patented Nov. l, 19663,282,141 GUILLOTENE SHEARING MACHINES Raymond Gautron, La Courneuve,France, assignor to Corpet, Louvet & Cie, La Courneuve, France, acorporation of France Filed Mar. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 439,137 Claimspriority, application France, Mar. 13, 1964, 967,397, Patent 1,396,541;967,398, Patent 1,396,542 6 Claims. (Cl. 233-527) The present inventionrelates to guillotine shearing machines, and'in particular to aconstruction of a [guillotine with adjustment of clearance betweenblades, together with adjustment of inclination of the moving blade.

It is more particularly concerned with means for ensuring, in aguillotine of this type, a rapid adjustment of Ithe clearance betweenblades as compared with the usual adjustment necessitating a horizontaldisplacement of the table carrying the Xed blade on the :frame of themachine, which is a laborious and difficult operation.

It also relates to means for ensuring synchronization of the control ofadjustment of the clearance between blades and of that of inclination ofthe moving blade, this being advantageous in that it concernstwoadjustments which depend on the thickness of the metal sheet to becut.

The invention also -concerns an arrangement in a guillotine of this kindintended to permit, when so required, a possible and correct notchingaction which does not imply any particular pre-caution or adjustment. g

By the term notching it is intended to mean the operation making use ofa blade arranged -transversely on the blade carrier -at the extreme endof the cut of the main blade and co-operating with a xed element on thernachine, the notching blade permitting the sheared cutting to bedetached on sheets having a length great-er than the capacity of themachine, or alternatively to carry out various rectangular cuts.

In the known constructions of guillotine shears having a blade carrierwith :adjustable inclination, this latter adjustment depends on `thethickness Aof the sheet to be cut, the inclination of the blade-carrieraffecting the clearance of the notching cut and involving eitheroperational necessities in the case of notching or incorrect executionof the notching for at least a part off the range olf thicknesses ofsheets within the capacity of the machine, all these disadvantages beingavoided by the application of the present invention.

In accordance with a characteristic feature of the invention, aguillotine shear having adjustment of the blades, the movableblade-carrier being mounted laterally on slides, each slide is pivotallymounted at its upper part on a pivotapin coupled to the frame, and atits lower part on a pivot having an eccentric mounting 4axis which ispivotally mounted on the frame and adjustable in angular positionaccording to the clearance desired between blades, the slide having forthis purpose at its upper portion a sliding mounting with respect to thepivot-pin first mentioned above.

ln addition, the eccentric mounting shaft referred to is mounted on theframe with the interposition of an eccentric pivot also adjustable inangular position with an amplitude of -adjustment greater than thatpermitted by the said eccentric shaft, which only covers the adjustmentof the clearance corresponding to the thickness of the sheet to be cut.

A'turther characte-ristic feature of 4the invention resides, aspreviously indicated, in a device intended to synchronize the control ofthe regulation of the clearance between blades and that of theinclination of the moving blade, this device comprising on a shaft foradjusting the clearance between blades adjustable angularly, a pulley onwhich is attached and wound a cable passing also over at least onepulley mounted on the moving blade-carrier Iso as to be variable inposition according to the inclination of the corresponding blade, thiscable being furthermore coupled to a holding device under tension andcarrying and operating device cooperating in both directions withmembers Xed in position and ensuring the control of the inclination ofthe moving blade in one direction or the other in response to that ofthe ladjustment of the clearance between blades, and between which thecontrol member is normally placed and is reset when the inclination ofthe moving blade corresponding to the desired clearance between bladeshas been obtained.

Another characteristic of the invention in a guillotine shear with ablade-carrier adjustable in inclination and further provided with anotching blade, reside-s in that the blade-carrier is provided, on theside of the notching blade, with a vertical later-al guide which leavesit the freedom of pivoting in this guide and ensures a pre-determinedcutting cica-rance between the blade and the notching unit.

:Examples of construction of guillotine shearing machines according tothe invention .are described below Without any implied limitation,reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a diagrammatic view from the front illustrating the mountingof the blade-carrier of a guillotine according to the invention, thestructure located in front of the blade-carrier being removed;

FIG. 2 is a detail view to a larger scale of the mounting of a slide ofthe blade-carrier on the adjacent upright of the frame;

FIG. 3 is a view of the guillotine in transverse section, taken alongthe line III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the adjustments permitted by themounting of the slides as shown;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the principle of theabove-mentioned synchronizing device;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a guillotine shear with the frame broken awaybehind the blade-carrier, showing a construction of the synchronizingdevice;

FIG. 7 is a partial front View of the synchronizing device shown in FIG.6;

FIG. 8 is a general front view of a blade-carrier and its arrangementfor the purpose of notching, the front portion of the guillotine beingremoved;

FIG. 9 is a detail view of the guide of the blade-carrier shown in FIG.8;

FIG. lO is a detail view of the mounting of the bladecarriercorresponding to a cross-section taken along the line X-X of FIG. 8;

FIG. l1 is a diagram illustrating the conditions of obtaining a suitablecutting clearance for notching;

, FIG. l2 is a diagram indicating the clearance of the notching cut as afunction of the inclination of the bladecarrier.

The guillotine shown diagrammatically in FIG. l comprises a frameincluding a table 1, carrying a xed blade 2., and on each side of whichare provided two uprights 3 between which is arranged, movable inheight, a bladecarrier 5 provided at its lower portion with the blade 6intended to co-operate with the blade 2.

The blade-carrier 5 is mounted laterally on two slides 7 through theintermediary of guiding members 8 ensuring the sliding without play ofthe blade-carrier in its plane, it being understood that theblade-carrier can be differently directed in the plane considered,depending on the inclination which it is desired to give to the movingblade 6.

The inclination of the slides is in this case adjustable according tothe desired cutting clearance between the blades 6 and 2.

As can be seen in detail from FIGS. 2 and 3, each slide is pivotallymounted at its upper portion about a pivot 10 mounted rigidly on theupright 3 of the frame and also slidable by means of an elongated hole11 engaging a slide 12 mounted on the pivot 10 which forms the pivotalcenter.

At its lower portion, each slide is mounted on a pivot pin 13 having aneccentric mounting shaft 14 which is pivotally fixed on the frame. Thisshaft 14 is adjustable in angular position, in this case by means of ahandwheel 15 driving a shaft 16 extending between the uprights 3 of theframe which support it, and at the extremities of which are provided twopinions 17 each coupled by a chain to a pinion 18 keyed on the shaft 14.yThe unit constituted -by the handwheel 15 and shaft 16 can be lockedfor rotation in any usual manner with respect to the frame. v

Thus, the eccentricity A of the shafts of the pivots 13 and theeccentricity B of the mounting shafts 14 enables the inclination of theslides 7 pivoting slidably about the pivot pins 10 to be regulated bymeans of the handwheel 15, that is to say the cutting clearance isadjusted between the moving blade 6 and the blade 2. It is recognizedthat this clearance must be substantially equal to 5% of the thicknessof the sheet to be cut.

This adjustment of the shearing clearance by variation of inclination ofthe slides is independent of their mean permanent inclination indicatedby z' in FIG. 3, and corresponding to an inclination of the attacktrajectory of the moving blade recognized as necessary to obtain asquare cut, this inclination being only slightly affected by theadjustment of the clearance between blades.

The eccentricity of the axes A-and B is preferably chosen as small aspossible in order to permit the obtaining of the desired range ofadjustment of the shearing clearance necessitated solely by thevariations in thickness of the sheets to be cut, at the same timeensuring that the variation of the shearing clearance is substantiallyproportional to the angular movement of thehandwheel 15, that is to sayonly a small portion of the possible angular displacement of A around Bis utilized, limited for example to the arc A1, A2 as illustrated on alarge scale in FIG. 4. This arrangement makes it further possible toobtain a certain irreversibility of the horizontal cutting reactions andit necessitates only a small operating force on the handwheel 15.

In addition, in order to take into account more particularly thedifferent thicknesses of blade possible and and their variations inthickness due to resharpening, there is then provided in the mounting ofthe shaft 14 on the frame the interposition of an eccentric pivot pin 20having its axis at C, which is mounted with an adjustable angularposition on the frame.

To this end, the pivot pin 20 is in this case provided with a notchedhead at 21 permitting its engagement by a key, and it can be locked onthe frame through the intermediary of a locking ring 22 with a fixingscrew 23. Taking account of this division of the adjustments, theeccentricity of the axes B and C is substantially greater than that ofthe axes A and B, the eccentric pivot 20 permitting for example, as canbe seen from FIG. 4, an amplitude of adjustment d (positions B, B1)while there is shown at r that which is normally permitted by theadjustment of the shaft 14.

In practice therefore, the adjustment of the eccentric pivot 20 willenable the clearance of given blades to be adjusted to a zero value orto the desired minimum value, while the adjustment of the shaft 14 willpermit the sheering clearance to be adjusted according to the thicknessof the sheets to be cut, this latter adjustment being obviously muchmore frequent than the other and thus made more convenient by means ofthe handwheel 15.

Furthermore, in association with the adjustment of the eccentric pivot20, there can be provided on adjustment of the upper pivot 10 in orderto permit an alignment of the two slides 7 with respect to each other,in order that their sliding faces may be contained in the same plane(the plane of the trajectory of movement of the blade-carrier 5). Thisadjustment can be obtained by providing for the pivot pin 10 aneccentric mounting 101 (see FIG. 2) which is in turn also adjustable inangular position on the frame and can be locked by means of a ring 24.

As has already been stated, a device is provided to ensuresynchronization of the adjustment control of the clearance betweenblades, similar to that previously ensured by means of the hand-wheel15, and of the adjustment cont-rol -of the inclination of the movingblade 6 and therefore of the blade-carrier 5. This adjustment ofinclination can be ensured in various known ways, by means of aservo-mechanism of which only the control members proper which areconcerned with the synchronization device will be shown in thedescription which follows. By way of indication, this adjustment can beeffected in this case by variation of the positions on the frame of thejacks 25 and 26 intended for the upand-down operation of theblade-carrier, yand against which this latter is normally forced by anintermediate restoring jack 27 (see FIG. l).

In its principle, the above-mentioned synchronization `device is showndiagrammatically in FIG. 5, in which 161 indicates the shaft angularlyadjustable according to the desired clearance betweenl blades (like theshaft 16 previously) and in which 51 represents the blade-carrieradjustable in inclination (angle e).

On the shaft 161 is keyed a pulley 30, on which is attached and wound at31 a cable 32 which then passes over two pulleys 33 and 34 fixed to thetwo extremities of the blade-carrier 51, this cable being kept undertension on the said pulleys by a device attached to its free extremity,in this case shown in the form of a spring 35. In the vicinity of thislatter extremity, the cable carries a double cam 36 which is normallylocated between electric control contacts 37 and 38, respectivelyintended to actuate the servo-mechanism for the inclination adjustmentof the moving blade, one in the `direction of increase and the other forthe decrease of the inclination e.

In this intermediate position, the double cam 36 cooperates with a stopcontact 39 intended, when it is actuated, to interrupt any variation ofinclination previously initiated by means of either of the controlcontacts 37 or 38. The cable passes over the pulleys 33 and 34 so thatthese are located on each side of it, which results in this case thatthe vertical working movement of the blade-carrier 51 leaves thedouble-cam 36 practically in any position, the cable disposed betweenthe pulleys 30 'and 33 then varying in length inversely with respect tothe length between the pulley 34 and the tensionmaintaining spring 35.

However, in the case of modification of adjustment of the shearingclearance necessitated by a change in the thickness yof the sheet to becut, for example a reduction of thickness corresponding in this case toan angular displacement m of the shaft 161 in the direction indicated bythe arrow, the spring 45 tensioning the cable 32 then causes thedouble-cam 36 to move towards the position indicated in dotted lines,taking account of the portion of cable unwound from the pulley 30.

In this displacement, the double-cam 36 actuates however the controlcontactor 38 responsible for the Ato the rear of the blade-carrier 5.

release of the inclination variation of the blade-carrier, that is tosay in this case the reduction of inclination associated with thereduction of thickness of the sheets considered. The blade-carrier 51 isthus brought lower down as far as the position shown in chain-dottedlines, in which the double-cam will again be brought back to theoperating position of the stop contact 39, thus inter rupting theinclination variation previously initiated.

In practice, this contact 39 may be a switch ensuring the interruptionof two holding control circuits respectively established through thecontrol contacts 37 and 38, actuated by the passage of the double-cam36.

As the distance L between centers of the pulley 34 in its two positionsshown is substantially equal to the length of cable unrolled from thepulley 30 during the angular movement m, it can readily be seen that theadjustment of inclination of the blade-carrier can thus be coupled inany desired manner to the adjustment of the clearance between blades bya suitable choice of the pulley 3u.

Assuming furthermore that the mouting of the cable is such that it isnot absolutely unaffected by the vertical movement of the blade-carrierduring cutting, it can be seen that the adjustment control circuitdescribed can be neutralized during the working phase of the guillotine.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate `an example of construction of this controldevice for a guillotine shearing machine such as that previouslydescribed, in which the pulley 301 to which is attached the cable 321 iskeyed on the shaft 16 which is provided with the operating handwheel foradjusting the clearance between blades and located On `a bracket 40,also arranged behind the blade-carrier 5 and at its two extremities, aremounted the pulleys 331 and 341 over which passes the cable which -thenextends over a set of return pulleys 41, 42 and 43, the spindles ofwhich are iixedly mounted on the frame of the guillotine, while at thefree extremity of the cable is attached a counter-weight 351.

On the cable is arranged a double-cam 361 co-operating Ias previouslyexplained in the case of FIG. 5, with the control contacts 371 and 381and a stop contact 391.

FIGS. 8 to 12 illustrate the arrangement intended to permit notching inthe case of la guillotine shown in a simplified manner, and in which theconstituent parts equivalent to those of the preceding machine areindicated on the drawing by the same'reference numbers.

On the blade-carrier 5 there is fixed, at the extremity of the effectivecut of the moving blade 6 and transversely to this latter, a notchingblade 53 intended to co-0perate with a notching block 54 fixed on theta'ble of the machine.

The blade-carrier S is provided at the side of the notching blade, 53,with a lateral vertical guide, in this case constituted by 'a roller 55coupled to the bladecarrier and engaged in a rolling track 56 fixed tothe adjacent upright 3 of the frame of the machine.

The roller is carried by a forked member 57, the arms of which freelyspan the rolling track 56, this forked member 5'7 being fixed on abracket 58 mounted on the rear of the blade-carrier 5.

An arrangement of this kind simultaneously permits the blade-carrier 5to retain the freedom of pivoting in this guide and to obtain apredetermined cutting clearance between the blade l53 and the notchingblock 54 in consequence of the trajectory imposed on the correspondingextremity of the blade-carrier during cutting, by the roller 55 rollingin the track 56.

This predetermined clearance can thus be maintained constant, that is tosay uneffected by the inclination of the blade-carrier, on conditionthat, when looking on the blade-carrier from the front, the axis of theroller 55 is in the vicinity of the cutting edge G of the notchingblade.

In additionv however, it is even possible to obtain very simply avariation of the cutting clearance for notching adapted to the thicknessof the sheets to be cut, for which the inclination of the blade-carrieris adjusted, and this by means of a certain geometric arrangement of thespindle of the roller 55 with respect to the cutting edge of thenotching blade G, which is illustrated in FIG. ll.

In this latter figure, when looking at the blade-carrier 5 from thefront, the spindle of the roller 55 is shown at 0, while there are shownat G1 and G2 the positions takenup, in comparison with that of theroller, by the cutting edge of the notching blade for the extremeinclinations of the blade 6, namely I0 for the zero inclination and Imfor the' maximum inclination, provided in this case as being equal to 3,which value is given solely by way of indication.

In this diagram, R represents the frontal distance from the axis of theroller to the cutting edge, while D corresponds to the variation of thecutting clearance for notching which should preferably be made toincrease with the inclination of the blade, since this latter is itselftaken to increase with the thickness of the sheets to be cut.

To this end, the mounting of the roller is such that the plane joiningthe axis of the roller to the cutting edge of the notching blade isinclined downwards with respect to this latter, OG1 making in this casethe acute angle L1 with the horizontal and OGZ making the acute angleL2.

This can be expressed as follows:

D=R cos L2-R cos L1 and since D=Rrc0s L2-c0s (L2+3) j (1) For example,in the case of a guillotine designed to cut a'maximum thickness of sheetof l5 mm., taking into account that it is advisable to adopt a shearingclearance equal to about 5% of the thickness of the sheet to be cut (avalue consecrated by use) and for a distance R equal to mm., theEquation 1 above becomes:

the solution of this equation being L2=10 and therefore L1=13.

On such a basis, FIG. l2 gives in its diagram an idea of the clearanceobtained between notching blades expressed as ordinates in mm. as afunction of the inclination I of the blade-carrier expressed asabscessae in degrees, and under which are expressed, on line E, thethicknesses of sheet corresponding, indicated in mm. and below thepercentage of this thickness, represented by the clearance thusobtained, it being noted that it does not depart from theabove-mentioned average except for small thicknesses of sheet (less than2mm.) in particular, since it then remains necessary to reserve aminimum cutting clearance.

In the case of the adjustment previously described of the clearancebetween the main blades 2 and `6 by displacement of the guides of theblade-carrier, it is only necessary to leave the support of the roller`55, as pro vided in this case, the necessary freedom of movement withrespect to the rolling track 56.

The invention may of course be given various forms of construction otherthan those described above.

What I claim is:

1. A guillotine shearing machine with adjustment of ing to the clearancedesired between blades, an eccentric pivot mounted'on said frame andbearing thereon said eccentric mounting shaft, said eccentric pivotbeing adjustable in angular position with an amplitude of adjustmentgreater than that permitted by said eccentric shaft, each said slidehaving for that purpose a sliding mounting at its upper end about therst pivot pin.

2. A guillotine shearing machine in accordance with claim 1,characterized in that it comprises a device intended to synchronize thecontrol of adjustment of the clearance between blades and a control ofinclination of the moving blade and comprising, on a shaft foradjustment of clearance between blades, adjustable angularly, a pulleyon which is attached and wound a cable which also passes over twopulleys mounted on the moving blade carrier so as to be variable inposition, depending on the inclination of the corresponding blade, saidcable being furthermore connected to a tensionmaintaining device andcarrying a control member cooperating in both directions with membersfixed in position and ensuring the control of the inclination of themoving blade in either direction in response to that of the adjustmentof the clearance between blades, and between which said control memberis normally placed and is re-set when the inclination of the movingblade corresponding to the clearance adopted between blades has beenreached.

3. A guillotine shearing machine in accordance with claim 1,characterized in that the pivot pin of the upper portion of each slidecomprises an eccentric mounting shaft adjustable in angular position onthe frame.

4. A guillotine shearing machine in accordance with claim 1, comprisinga blade-carrier with adjustable inclination provided with a notchingblade arranged at the end of cut of the main blade and transverselythereto,

and co-operating with a notching block fixed on the machine,characterized Vin that, on the side of the notching blade, theblade-carrier is provided with a lateral vertical guide which leaves itthe freedom of pivoting in this guide and ensures a predeterminedcutting clearance between the blade and the notching block.

5. A guillotine shearing machine in accordance with lclaim 4,characterized in that the guide is constituted by a roller coupled tothe blade-carrier and engaged in a rolling track rigidly fixed to theframe of the machine.

6. A guillotine shearing machine in accordance with claim 5,characterized in that said roller is coupled to the blade-carrier by asupport such that the plane joining the axis of the `roller and thecutting edge of the notching blade is inclined downwards with respect tosaid support, the inclination of this plane and the distance betweenthe' roller axis and the cutting edge being such that the cuttingclearance for notching is automatically adjusted in accordance with thethickness of the sheet to be cut for which the inclination `of theblade-carrier has been adjusted.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,574,501 11/1951Seybold et al 83-527 X 2,605,836 8/ 1952 Messick 83-640 2,833,349 5/1958Green 83-527 3,162,232 12/ 1964 Munschauer et a1. 83-640 X 3,181,4075/1965 Pearson 83-640 X FOREIGN PATENTS 746,378 3/1956 Great Britain.

WILLIAM W. DWYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

J. M. MEISTER, Assistant Examiner.

1. A GUILLOTINE SHEARING MACHINE WITH ADJUSTMENT OF THE BLADES,COMPRISING A FRAME, SLIDE MEANS ON SAID FRAME, A MOVING BLADE CARRIERMOUNTED LATERALLY ON SAID SLIDES, A FIRST PIVOT PIN COUPLED TO THE FRAMEAND PIVOTALLY MOUNTING THEREON THE UPPER PORTION OF EACH SAID SLIDE, ASECOND PIVOT PIN PIVOTALLY MOUNTING THEREON THE LOWER PORTION OF EACHSAID SLIDE, SAID SECOND PIVOT PIN HAVING AN ECCENTRIC MOUNTING SHAFTWHICH IS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON THE FRAME AND IS ADJUSTABLE IN ANGULARPOSITION ACCORDING TO THE CLEARANCE DESIRED BETWEEN BLADES, AN ECCENTRICPIVOT MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME AND BEARING THEREON SAID ECCENTRIC MOUNTINGSHAFT, SAID ECCENTRIC PIVOT BEING ADJUSTABLE IN ANGULAR POSITION WITH ANAMPLITUDE OF ADJUSTMENT GREATER THAN THAT PERMITTED BY SAID ECCENTRICSHAFT, EACH SAID SLIDE HAVING FOR THAT PURPOSE A SLIDING MOUNTING AT ITSUPPER END ABOUT THE FIRST PIVOT PIN.